Founded in 2012 by Daryl Hively, Guarantee Digital is a Wisconsin-based agency providing white label marketing product fulfillment, education, and strategic guidance to digital agencies and marketing partners. With clients including the Tampa Bay Times, Mavrik, Salem Media Group, Shaw Media, and BlueHouse Digital, the Guarantee’s fully remote team of seasoned advertising experts works with agency startups, well-established companies, and everything in between. They provide clients with solutions to help scale their businesses and increase profitability without adding to their headcount, including performance marketing, social media content development, SEO, website design, sales enablement and more. 

Ready to Retire After a Long Career in Digital Marketing

Daryl worked in the digital marketing space his whole career and spent ten years building Guarantee Digital up. Close to retirement and fueled by a decade of growth, he was excited to find the right partner to take over the agency so he could slowly transition out.   

He partnered with us at Barney for our shorter timeline, industry specialization, and simple, personalized process. We think he made the right call.  

Hyper-Specialization and A Track Record of Results 

At Barney, we love to see a hyper-specialized agency. Guarantee Digital is known for their unique white-label program – a turnkey program offering 360 degree support to agencies of all shapes and sizes so they can stay focused on the next big sale. They get results for their clients over and over again, resulting in over 200 long-term reseller partners and direct clients. Their experienced and efficient staff is made up of tenured digital marketing experts experienced in helping agencies come to life and grow, and their work results in consistent revenue growth year over year. 

Guarantee is a unique agency, doing something not many other businesses are doing. With their wide variety of services from targeted marketing to social and content development to lead generation, they specialize in helping agencies go to market and grow their businesses. They act as true partners for agencies, helping them succeed with a variety of focused, proven programs including their Digital Media Lab and EveryDoorDigital.

Looking For an Exit and a Dream Retirement

Daryl was looking for an exit so he could transition to a strong strategic partner, focus on sales (which he loves doing) and ultimately have his dream retirement after a long, incredible career. He needed a buyer for Guarantee who could not only run the business without him, but help the business grow and thrive for years to come. Ideally, the right partner would be excited to lead Guarantee’s existing team of digital marketing experts, have a wide network Guarantee could cross-sell to, and have resources to leverage for growth.

Telling Guarantee’s Story

Excited to find the perfect buyer to take Guarantee to the next level, we put our heads down and got to work. First, we got to know Guarantee inside and out from culture to team to numbers and calculated their worth to buyers in today’s market. From there, we crafted incredible marketing materials to tell Guarantee’s story to potential buyers – their value, their expertise, their special sauce. We tapped into our vast network of both strategic and entrepreneurial buyer relationships and identified high-potential buyer targets. We ended up having multiple full-price offers, including an all cash offer. Enter Guarantee’s dream buyer: Beasley Media Group.

A Renowned Media Group Expanding Their Digital Arm

Our team quickly realized The Beasley Media Group was the best fit to take Guarantee to the next level. Throughout their 60-year history in radio and media, they’ve helped over 100,000 businesses achieve their business goals and thrive. The Beasley team is dedicated to delivering client results with advertising and marketing solutions, and their huge range of digital and integrated capabilities made them incredibly capable of helping Guarantee thrive at scale for years to come. 

Through partnership with Guarantee, Beasley could expand their digital arm and grow their capabilities to help businesses of all sizes thrive, achieve their goals with proven results, and connect with their community through digital marketing. Guarantee could access expanded opportunities for cross-selling and lean on Beasley’s expertise and resources to grow. And most importantly, the two organizations shared values across their cultures including innovation, drive to help customers succeed, customer focus, and collaboration.

Getting Daryl the Exit He Deserved

Daryl was another in a long line of founders we’ve saved from the miserable, old-school way of selling your agency. He got the exit he deserved after a long, successful career building a game-changing business, and best of all he had both cash in the bank for his ideal retirement and peace of mind knowing his life’s work was thriving without him. And Beasley? They got to invest in an innovative, profitable business with an awesome team and proven strategies, expanding their digital marketing business just like they wanted.